Jul 01 2010
Cleveland Is Where My Heart Is
God, I love this city…
Cara Marie Lageson | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com
And it’s unique beauty…
Cleveland, Ohio | iCarabout.com
Jun 22 2010
Yahoo Covers Cleveland’s Etch A Sketch King, George Vlosich
I was so excited to see that Yahoo! did a feature story about one of my favorite people in Cleveland, George Vlosich — the Etch A Sketch guy!
You’ve heard of him, right? You know, he posted the video of himself Etch A Sketch-ing LeBron James on youtube! (Which now has over 2 MILLION views, by the way!)
This is a dude I’ve known for a long time and is a good friend of my family. He was a student of my father’s at Cleveland Institute of Art, and then was hired to work with my Dad in the creative department of Wyse Advertising. He used to show us his sketches when I’d visit Wyse, but it’s so nice now to see how his phenomenal (and just plain FUN) talent is out in the public eye! Not only that, but he is also drawing positive attention to our great city and the amazing arts and culture incubator that is Cleveland, Ohio.
He’s also been featured on other nationally known shows and platforms, like Oprah! (I’m seriously jealous — I want to meet Oprah!) But he is honestly just an all around nice, down-to-earth guy who loves his family and his city. Might I add that he’s damn talented at his job too…you know, that one at Wyse! 
Did I mention that he also started a GV Art + Design with his brother, a creative boutique specializing in original artwork, design — and awesome T-SHIRTS!! I’m sure you’ve seen the shirts around that say “CLEVE LAND THAT I LOVE” or “The Wait of the City”. It doesn’t stop there. They also sell posters, magnets and greeting cards with George’s Etch A Sketches on them and even original songs for download written by his father!
GV Art + Design | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com
Check out more at http://www.gvetchedintime.com/
GV Art + Design | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com
I could go on and on, but I’ll share the article with you all because I love it!!
By Diane DiPiero, Associated Content
George Vlosich III | Picture from Yahoo! | iCarabout.com
Once upon a time, before portable DVD players and the Nintendo DS, a 10-year-old boy was handed an Etch A Sketch to keep himself busy on a five-and-a-half-hour road trip from Cleveland to Washington, D.C.
Not satisfied with sketching geometric shapes or stick figures, he made a picture of the U.S. Capitol Building.
Long after that trip, George Vlosich III is still producing highly intricate images on the Etch A Sketch. His detailed creations keep coming with each turn of the silver knobs. The red plastic box has become a vibrant frame for the artist’s breathtaking creations. Young Vlosich stumbled upon a unique means of artistic expression that would one day land him on “Oprah” and have him sketching everyone from LeBron James to President Obama.
Early years
After realizing his Etch A Sketch talents, Vlosich entered monthly contests sponsored by the Ohio manufacturer of the toy.He usually won.
Slightly suspicious, Ohio Art sent a representative to Vlosich’s Cleveland home to see if he was really the artist making all of these creations. When the company saw that he was legit, Ohio Art started to send Vlosich an Etch A Sketch toy every month so he could work on new creations.
The company also put some of his most detailed and impressive etches on a country-wide museum tour.
The son of an artist, Vlosich recalls watching Saturday-morning cartoons with his father and recreating on the Etch A Sketch the figures he saw on TV. From there, he moved on to sports figures. He fondly remembers making a sketch of Lawrence Taylor, former football player for the New York Giants and now a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“The Giants were at (the) Browns training camp, and I got to meet Lawrence Taylor and show him the sketch,” Vlosich says. He also sketched baseball players such as Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles, and got to meet them as well.
Child at heart
Many children outgrow a toy as their interests change, but Vlosich never abandoned the Etch A Sketch.
Instead, he perfected his drawings, spending “hundreds of thousands of hours,” in his estimation, turning knobs to just the right degree to create shadow effects that heightened the lifelike qualities of his work.
These days, Vlosich is a painter, a graphic designer and an art director for Wyse Advertising, a Cleveland-based agency. He and his brother, Greg, an artist in his own right, have created a line of graphic apparel celebrating their hometown. The “Cleve Land That I Love” T-shirt has been a big seller, according to Vlosich.
“We’re very pro-Cleveland, and we want to support the community, says Vlosich, 31, who is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art.
The king
The Etch A Sketch is still a big part of his life.
Dubbed the “Etch A Sketch King” for his detailed creations, Vlosich appeared on “Oprah” last February, showing the queen of daytime TV his own royal abilities. Currently, his work can be seen at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Etch A Sketch through August 1.
As fun as using the Etch A Sketch is for Vlosich, he doesn’t take on every project tossed his way. That’s because over the years he has developed an involved system that he follows every time he picks up the toy.
First, Vlosich shakes a new Etch A Sketch to make sure it will produce the crisp lines he needs. If an Etch A Sketch doesn’t pass the shake test, he doesn’t use it.
Rather than just start with turning the knobs to begin a new creation, Vlosich initially draws an image in his sketchbook. Only when he is comfortable that the image will reproduce well on the Etch A Sketch does Vlosich get to work.
He spends about 70-80 hours on one sketch. That’s because any time he doesn’t quite get a line right or doesn’t think an image looks like the original, he starts over. After doing the line work first, Vlosich moves on to shading, which he says is the easiest but also the most time-consuming part of a project. A single line might be traced over 20 to 30 times to give it the right thickness.
When he’s finally finished, Vlosich makes his sketch permanent by removing the aluminum powder and stylus from inside the Etch A Sketch. Once those are out, the sketch on the screen cannot be erased. Vlosich says he has shipped completed Etch A Sketches across the country and the images have always remained intact.
So many places
In January of 2009, Vlosich returned to Washington, D.C., this time to see his Etch A Sketch image of Barack Obama stand beside more traditional portraits of the newly sworn-in president.
“The Etch A Sketch has taken me so many places I never thought I’d be,” says Vlosich, who is working on a piece celebrating several cities around the country. He hopes to do some charity pieces in the near future, including one that would thank the U.S. military for its service.
The Etch A Sketch may be considered a toy, but when it gets in the hands of Vlosich, it becomes anything but child’s play.
Jun 19 2010
Flash Mob in Cleveland Supporting LeBron James
Just this past Thursday (June 17th) there was a flash mob sighting near the fountain at the Tower City Center. Around lunchtime, some members of the Shaker Dance Academy teamed up with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Akron appeared from the crowd and danced their little tushies off! The group totaled almost 200!!
I think this is the cutest thing ever, especially since the kids did it in hopes that LeBron would notice their support of him and stay in Cleveland. Although I’m sure NY will be quick to make fun of these efforts and call us “pathetic” for trying…even though they’re doing the same thing. (Don’t get me started…)
I’m pretty sure the flash mob was organized by Positively Cleveland, WKYC and morethanaplayer.org — the video is from Positively Cleveland.
By the way, have you been to morethanaplayer.org yet? I’m sure you’ve at least seen the billboards around Cleveland. Check it out if you have some time. The site was started by ‘Fans for LeBron’ to let him know just how special he is to our city.
More About Them:
‘Fans for LeBron’ is a grassroots group committed to keeping one of Northeast Ohio’s greatest assets in Cleveland. We understand that LeBron means so much to our community in so many different ways. He impacts our local economy and the awareness of Cleveland both nationally and internationally, and he improves the fabric of life across our region with his inspiration and local charitable benefits.
‘Fans for LeBron’ committee members share a passion for the region and understand that LeBron’s impact goes well beyond basketball and he is “more than a player.” We want to show him why it’s so important for him to stay home.
The ‘Fans for LeBron’ committee members are:
Keith Abrams
Bill Applegate
Rick Batyko
Steve Bitto
Rob Boenau
Douglas Boodjeh
Fred Botek
Steve Carver
John Cimperman
Ray Davis
Molly Dixon
Greg Easterly
Roger Frank
David Gilbert
Ken Hejduk
Charles Michener
Gary Mincer
Jerry Murphy
Ray Murphy
John & Karen Nestor
Bill Platko
Kameika Smith
Steven Tatar
Jeff Wilson
Adam Zuccaro
Jun 17 2010
Buy Local Week: Take the Cleveland Buy Local Challenge!
I was just recently tipped off to an amazing challenge coming up supporting all of our favorite local businesses here in Cleveland.
Interested? I know, so was I!
I Buy NEO, a program powered by COSE to support Northeast Ohio small businesses, has organized its 2nd annual “Buy Local Week” starting July 3 – 10, 2010.
For this week, Clevelanders are encouraged to purchase only from regional vendors. In fact, you can take the “Buy Local
COSE | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com
Challenge” and pledge to spend $100 to NEO owned businesses by filling out a promise form on the ibuyneo.com website. In return for taking the $100 challenge, participants will receive a Buy Local discount card they can use in the month of July saving them money at over 40 local attractions, restaurants, and events.
To pledge to the “Buy Local Challenge”, visit http://www.ibuyneo.com/buylocalchallenge.asp
If spending $100 isn’t in the cards for you, there are other ways you can help promote and support “Buy Local Week”. You can just make sure your purchases are made from locally owned vendors that week, or you can also get a badge or widget from ibuyneo.com to post on your site. If you’re on twitter, you can also use this #buylocalneo hashtag.
I’m actually a huge fan of this “100 Ways to Buy Local” widget which lists ideas for purchases locally more often — so cute and clever!
Although I try to buy locally as much as I can, I love this effort because it really brings attention to our great Cleveland+ businesses right in our own backyards. Most of us would agree that we’d rather SUPPORT our city’s economy rather than chase potential businesses out of NEO. I’m especially interested in bringing more regional vendors, companies and career opportunities to Downtown Cleveland — both to utilize empty space we already have and to encourage new construction and growth.
Here is some info from ibuyneo.com about “Buy Local Week”:
- -If everyone in Northeast Ohio redirects $100 to a locally owned business, the local economic impact would reach approximately $48 million, creating jobs and many other opportunities for the region.
- -Buy Local Week is an important initiative as it helps to level the playing field. Small businesses often times do not have the marketing budgets and resources to compete with the big box retailers. Buying from locally owned businesses creates jobs in the region and keeps our neighborhoods unique and thriving.
One last bit of information I’ll share is that on July 12th, COSE will announce how many millions of dollars were redirected to support NEO vendors. This money will in turn go towards making Northeast Ohio and the surrounding area a more profitable and growing region.
So why not support this great effort and help out our city’s small businesses? There are many ways to contribute, even if you don’t have the extra money to spend!
What are your favorite local shops, restaurants and vendors in Cleveland?
Jun 15 2010
The Cleveland Social Media Cycle
I’m not sure how many of you noticed, but I’ve been a little slow to post on iCarabout recently.
Well, there’s a reason for that. Not only have I been missing on my blog, but I’ve also slowed down a lot on social media too. I have to admit, I’ve been getting a little burnt out on it all. I just needed a break.
Social Media Cycle | Cleveland, OH | iCarabout.com
Don’t get me wrong, I love all my followers on Twitter and readers, but I suppose I just have been noticing a cycle in all of this. I feel like I’m reading the same things everyday…going to so-called networking events that are basically the same discussions online, but in person. It’s all a lot of talk about how many popular and new restaurants we’ve all been to recently, or what events we’ve been to. Now, that’s great and all (and notice I said “we” because I do it too), but doesn’t it all feel a little repetitive? I’m all for social events to just hang out and chat with fellow local professionals, making friends face-to-face and such–but lets call them what they are: parties, not networking.
Jason Murphy (yes, I realize he’s my boyfriend, but he really is on to something here) recently wrote a post on his blog JasonMatthewMurphy.com challenging all of social media users AND (mostly) Cleveland businesses to break out of this cycle that is getting us nowhere. He calls out these businesses to show up to our networking events to teach us something. Isn’t that really what we all want out of these professional networking meetings?– To learn something new, to meet new people who can offer us a connection, an innovative thought, something other than another twitter follower?!
Anyways, please check out this article written by Jason Murphy at:
http://jasonmatthewmurphy.com/cleveland/my-challenge-to-cleveland-brands-and-companies/.
It really does change your perspective a little and I think he has a great point.
What do you think?
Like I said before, I love all the people I’ve connected with and would have otherwise never known, via Twitter, Facebook, etc. They are all fabulous people and the greatest supporters of anything and everything “Cleveland” — just like me. I’m not calling anyone out in particular and saying that they’re talking about the same crap everyday. I’d just like to see something better for us all for the amount of effort we put in daily in our careers, promotions and networking.
Maybe some SOLID opportunities would be nice?
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